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Apple 'iPad HD' rumored for fall release

The Apple rumor mill ramped up to full speed this week with reports that Apple has a new iPad model set for release this fall. According to Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next, Apple’s newest tablet will be called the “iPad HD,” with the device expected to boast a screen with double the resolution (2048×1536) of the iPad 2 — a rumor we’ve heard before, but it hasn’t been particularly believable until now.

Sources say that the device will be for the high-end “pro” market (meaning its price points will well exceed that of the iPad2), possibly for professional producers of video and photo content — though that doesn’t mean anybody with a big enough bank roll can’t enjoy the shiny new tablet. Apple is said to have an iPad-friendly version of either Final Cut Pro or Aperture to go along with the iPad HD. And the device “is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line,” writes Topolsky, similar to the MacBook-MacBook Pro relationship.

News of a new, high-end iPad is corroborated by FBR Capital analyst Craig Berger, who says that Apple likely has an “iPad 2 Plus” in store for the holiday season. That device, says Berger, will have a pixel density of 250-300 ppi, which adds more weight to the double-resolution screen. Berger stipulates, however, that “we await more confirming data points from other supply chain contacts before fully believing a new iPad device is coming in 2011.”

Topolsky’s report follows a big story from the Wall Street Journal that asserts Apple indeed has a thinner and lighter iPhone 5 in the works. While many have speculated that the next iPhone would look essentially the same as the iPhone 4, Topolsky says that we will in fact see an entirely redesigned next-gen iPhone. The reason for the iPhone 4 look-a-like rumors is because Apple has been testing the iPhone 5 components in old iPhone 4 cases.

The reason Apple is ditching the iPhone 4 design so quickly is because high-level Apple executives are tired of it, and “are ready to move on to an entirely new product,” writes Topolsky.

Whether or not all of this will play out in September remains to be seen. But Apple’s plans appear to be coming into sharper focus, even if a few of the details remain blurry.